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Nerdy Girl

Are Video Games the Devil

[url]http://itsgrindingmygears.blogspot.com[/url]
One of the most common criticisms of video games is that they allegedly increase violent tendencies among youth. I call bull****! My personal belief is that many youths commit crimes because they lack a positive influence/roles models in their lives. A lot of teens have a lot of empty time on their hands and nothing to do. Also, a lack of experience and discretion along with being influenced by their peers doesn't help either. So before blaming video games for crime in youths, maybe you should be sitting down with your children and talking with them and keeping a shorter leash on them. Be a parent!!
Sexual themes in video games are much less tolerated than violent themes. I think it's the nanny factor. TV in particular has been kept sanitary for kids and it's led to a very backwards view of reality. America needs to stop thinking of sex as an unwholesome and horrible thing and allow the sales of games that deal with sex in the honest and unashamed way like many R rated films do. Come on, they are just boobies! Hugh Hefner came up with a valuable point: "Don't you think it'd be better for the world to be exposed to sex rather than violence? There would be a lot less deaths."
Addiction to video games has also been at the heat of the debate. Its thought that video games and computers interfere with daily life. Example, players using games compulsively and isolating themselves from social contact. Hate to burst bubbles, but most people do socialize with one another on video games, especially now a days with it being so easy to talk to others through games systems. I have a friend who has sever social anxiety disorder and has a very hard time meeting people. He has tried to go out and socialize with others but he ends up getting really worked up and anxious and ends up in a depressive funk for days. However, he doesn't have a problem with getting online and playing in an alternate world and meet people and connect. He has made real life friends doing this and its just an easier way for him.
Also, children who play strategic video games have shown what researchers call a “fluid intelligence”. Meaning, they are good problem solvers. "They have to discover the rules of the game and how to think strategically," said James Paul Gee, a University of Wisconsin-Madison curriculum and instruction professor. "Like any problem solving that is good for your head, it makes you smarter." With our faced paced modern world, games might actually help in developing the skills one needs to succeed.
I will admit that some people do take video games too far. Such as the Chinese man who died in a cybercafe after a 3 day internet gaming binge. However, it is widely known through the gaming world that China has many more developers of online games and services than the US. This makes for a very crowded, competitive, and very successful field of selling virtual goods. The Chinese playing video games non stop, forgetting to eat or rest, isn't much different from a corporate employee trying to succeed up the corporate ladder and working over time and missing out on breakfast and lunch.
My personal belief is that a lot of people who judge video games are people who dont understand them or don't want to understand them. They are spouses/companions who don't play and are jealous that all that time isn't spent looking directly at them. What else would you be doing at home while you are spending time together? Sitting on the couch watching tv, not speaking? Others are parents who want to blame video games for taking up their child's time. That's fine that you don't want your kid to play video games all day but you need to control that. Kids don't have a realistic idea of time once they start doing things that are fun and entertaining. You need to monitor that time and control it. You are the parent! Then there are the people who feel like something needs to be blamed for the crime today and don't want to see the actual truth....so, they turn to video games are the main source.
“After conducting a two-year study of more than 1,200 middle school children about their attitudes towards video games, Harvard Medical School researchers Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson found that playing video games did not have a particularly negative effect on the researched group. “
If you want to read more about these types of topics and other controversial things you can visit them at ... [url]http://itsgrindingmygears.blogspot.com[/url]

First a big thanks to Apophis to commenting, given the title of the blog, a brand new member, with no forum post and this being the first blog post I almost just skipped over it.

Very interesting article...very hard to read the blogspot.com blog however, due to dark blue type with a black background, I haven't gotten through that yet.

I've had many of the same thoughts regarding violence being linked to video games (and even music). I always felt like those that commit horrendous acts of violence, probably already had an attraction towards violence. Gaming didn't trigger these thoughts/actions, hell for all we know it staved off the inevitable.

Seconded on the sex in video games/TV, etc. It would probably help if game designers would work in something that wasn't just thrown in for shock value though. How about women with an attractive figure and NOT have breasts that weigh 30 lbs each?? or a female lead character that wears normal clothing? Resident Evil 5 is a good example of this. It was an alright game, short, no scare factor like the original games had for me, but the steadfast character Chris Redfield is dressed in what seems to be normal military/security force type clothing, whereas his female counterpart is in shorts and a skin tight T-shirt, this doesn't appear to be the standard uniform either, because we run into the person she trained with/under he's dressed very closely to Chris. Then it get worse, when you beat the game, you get a "clubbin" outfit for Sheva, half shirt, very short skirt, etc. or a Business woman outfit, glasses, dress-suit. I know some guys only want this, but how about start her in "normal" clothing, then have one of the optional outfits be a scantically clad outfit.

As for the spouses...I have to agree with you there. My wife has fought me on gaming many, many , many times. Yet when I don't get on the computer, it's exactly as you describe, sitting watching TV/movies, no conversation. There is something to be said about being next to the one you love, being close, holding hands, laying on one another, but my relationship is about 50/50 on this. Half the time, we're next to eachother, close, etc. the other, we're sitting on different couches and she's crocheting.

thank you commenting on the blogspot. I will definitely take into consideration next time I post something about the colors. My husband and I has a lot of problems when we first started dating because he was a hardcore EQ gammer and I was still stuck on games like Sonic and Mario. But, he introduced me to Diablo 2 and it was over from there. I found that we could spend time together playing games together and it was way more fun than just sitting around watching the same ole sitcoms on tv. Plus, its way cheaper to pay 30 bucks a month all together for a game than to go out all the time. Dont get me wrong, though, we still have our date night once a week where we have a nice dinner and watch a movie. =)

Violent crime, as a whole, has been on a downward trend for a long time. Sensationalist media reporting, however, has been on a massive upward swing for nearly as long. It's easy to be evangelistic about something when you listen to some godforsaken 24-hour cable news channel (or even local news, sadly enough) and their pundits presenting their opinions as fact, then only use what they say as the basis for your opinion. As an example, just take a moment to remind yourself about the blow-up regarding the hilariously mild sex scenes in Mass Effect 1.

Could go on but yeah, it's a stupid argument to get into unless someone in power is actually trying to do something. If it isn't video games, it's movies. If it isn't movies, it's comic books. If it isn't comic books, it's penny thriller novels. If it isn't them, it's movable printed text and education of the unwashed masses. Etc.

One of the first games I ever played was shareware Wolfenstein 3D when I was like 10 or 11. It scared the hell out of me and it was rare that I ever ventured past level 3. Those damn blue guys! A year or two later I was playing Doom, the outdated game the media still thinks exists on millions of contemporary computers frequented by underage children. I should have grown up to become a psychotic serial killer but unfortunately I've never fired a gun or seriously considered such a profession.

lol I played Wolfenstein 3D too! I havent thought about that game in years. lol Really, if the media is right, I should be jumping up and down on turtles, eating mushrooms and jumping in sewer grates every chance I get because of Mario! =p

When I was in college, we examined the issue of violence in media, and how it correlates to incidents of violence. It is a hot topic still, but the only thing that can be proved statistically about violence in media (video games, cartoons, movies, tv, music, etc) is that it is linked to an increase in aggression. However, the increase in aggression is only short-term So, after playing some BC2, I would be a little more aggressive immediately after playing, but I would NOT be more aggressive in a long-term life changing way.

The article on pornography and rape is extremely interesting, it really just goes to show that while the data is out there, we still fail to incorporate data into policy effectively on many issues (whether that be because of bias, ignorance, or just being plain un-aware).